The Boston Red Sox just leveled up and made their offseason trade with the Chicago White Sox all the more worthwhile. Some questioned their decision to trade four top prospects for two years of Garrett Crochet without a proper infrastructure ... but how about six years of Garrett Crochet?
On Monday night, the Sox struck a deal with the left-hander to keep him in Boston for the long haul. It's a six-year, $170 million extension and the largest ever for a pitcher who's accrued four or more years of service time while still under team control.
Crochet will play out 2025 under his $3.8 million salary, and then the extension will kick in come 2026, when he will earn a $28.33 AAV through 2031. There is, however, an opt-out clause after the 2030 season, which will be the conclusion of Crochet's age-31 campaign.
This is undoubtedly a risk, but it's one many would argue worth taking. First of all, when you can get an All-Star-caliber 26-year-old pitcher for the same price as Carlos Rodón, you have to do it. Secondly, for the value the Sox traded in the deal with Chicago, they needed to secure Crochet beyond 2026 in order to truly validate it. That is, unless they made multiple deep playoff runs in 2025 and 2026.
The concerns? Crochet has only made 33 career starts, 32 of which came in 2024. He has one full season of rotation experience under his belt, and it came at the age of 25.
BREAKING: Left-hander Garrett Crochet and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a six-year, $170 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN. The deal starts in 2026 and includes an opt-out after 2030. By far the largest deal ever for a pitcher with 4+ years of service.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 1, 2025
Garrett Crochet contract details with Red Sox revealed
Many Sox fans believed an extension was no longer on the table after talks stalled with Crochet setting an Opening Day deadline. But, as we know, that's rarely ever a hard deadline, especially if the team comes back with an offer the player can't refuse.
It seems this was one of those instances. Crochet would've been hard-pressed to turn down $170 million after making so few starts in his big league career. This AAV puts him above Rodón, Tyler Glasnow, Max Fried and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He's right behind Aaron Nola's $172 million, which gives him the sixth-highest current contract among starting pitchers.
So, you can see how this is "risky." Then again, it's imperative to make such moves if you want to succeed in the modern MLB. And at the very least, Crochet gives the Red Sox stability atop the rotation, whether he's the ace or the No. 2. He'll be accompanied by Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello for years to come, and the Red Sox will have financial flexibility to put more pieces around him.
Craig Breslow's year with the Red Sox has been full of splashes, and they will largely determine the team's success over the next five or so years. Strap in, Sox fans.